malbsMd: "In the end, let's say Ancient didn't happen. So we won 2-0"

The Guatemalan star admitted to being tilted after the opening map and praised huNter- for his key Mirage clutch.

G2 got their BLAST World Final campaign off the right foot as they defeated Liquid 2-1 to secure a playoff spot in Singapore.

Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski's troops had to come back from a map down after being demolished 13-0 on Ancient, Liquid's map pick. It was Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa's worst performance in G2 colors as he posted a 0.18 rating, picking up only one frag during the game.

"It was a little bit weird," he told HLTV after the series. "Like, we picked T side. We never really do that. So we couldn't just get into the game, you know?

"We didn't play the best in our T side. We gave them the whole map, basically. They had every round mid, they had A. So it was easy for them, I would say. But in the end, let's say that didn't happen. So we won 2-0 (laughs)."

After that map, the team reconvened outside to discuss the gameplan for the rest of the series. "I didn't say anything personally because I was really tilted," malbsMd said. "I couldn't join the server and it was annoying me a lot." Still, he noted, he kept faith that the team would turn it around. And on Inferno, the Guatemalan acquitted himself much better: he finished the game with a 1.57 rating and nearly pulled off an ace clutch on the CT side.

G2's comeback was completed with a 13-6 win on Mirage. After a 6-6 stalemate in the first half, Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač came up clutch in the pistol round — an important confidence boost for the Bosnian player, who had revealed on media day that he was "not really happy with my performance overall."

"He has been saying that he hasn't been the best lately," malbsMd said. "That was a really important clutch. We were 6-6 and then getting the pistol like that is really important. Insta after he won the pistol, I was like, 'Damn, you're back, baby."

With a playoff berth already secured, G2 will now turn their attention to Thursday's match against the winner of Spirit vs Vitality, with a semi-final spot on the line.

"It's going to be a really good match," he said. "This is not NAVI, you know? Jokes aside, they're really good opponents. We've played a lot against Spirit. We've only played once against Vitality, so it's going to be really good.

"Sadly, Vitality is playing with a stand-in. But I mean, they can do the same performance, I guess. They're really good individually. I'm just waiting for whoever wins. I don't mind it."